Morocco Considers Streamlining Civil Status Procedures for Expats

The mission comes from the commission on foreign affairs, national defense, Islamic affairs and Moroccans living abroad. The report also suggests using new technologies and remedying the shortcomings of law 37.99 on civil status and its implementing decree. Instead of three registers, the report proposes keeping a single paper birth or death register by diplomatic representations, using an electronic medium for the issuance of duplicates of the original register and setting up a central commission responsible for ruling on requests for correction of material errors and omissions from Moroccan nationals registered in civil status abroad, reports the MAP.

The commission also advocates granting legal guardianship to the divorced mother with custody of the children. The objective is to eliminate the difficulties related to parental authorization for obtaining passports or extending the validity of residence permits for children, to the adoption of divorce by mutual consent rendered abroad. There is also the extension of the validity of the birth certificate to one year, instead of six months for Moroccans of the world.

Other recommendations are included in the document examined in plenary session. These include the assignment of an accountant and his deputy to each consulate, the promotion of listening services and the proper functioning of the toll-free number, the encouragement of MREs to take out life insurance, the rationalization of human resources, the strengthening of infrastructure, the appointment of a magistrate to each consulate and the establishment of a unified organizational chart for all consular centers.

During the presentation by the Minister in charge of Moroccans Residing Abroad, Nezha El Ouafi reviewed various projects deployed by the ministry. These include strengthening the consular network, bringing its services closer to Moroccan nationals, renovating and modernizing the consular infrastructure, or the gradual digitization of services, the same source specifies.